All posts tagged G-7

This week’s meeting of the Group of 20 nations in Moscow will inject fresh volatility into currency markets. But it won’t change their direction.

If anything, the ineffective statement that is likely to emerge from the meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors will confirm that there is little the authorities can do to prevent individual countries from promoting growth as they please.

In other words, a global currency war could come one step closer.

Mindful of the difficulties that such a large group as G-20 would have in achieving agreement on foreign exchange policy, the smaller and more powerful Group of Seven leading industrialized countries tried to preempt the issue by releasing an unusual statement of its own on Tuesday.

The statement repeated the standard line that markets should determine foreign exchange rates and that G-7 member countries would not target specific levels.